Book Review - The Legal Aid Handbook, 2022/23 edition

book review

An absolutely essential purchase as the cost-of-living crisis worsens in the 2020s

Suffolk & North Essex Law Society

An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”, and Mediator

In times such as these with a dramatic strain on our everyday expenses, called the “cost of living crisis”, we welcome the new edition of the Legal Action Group’s “Legal Aid Handbook” for 2022/23, edited by Vicky Ling and Sue James. LAG is the access to justice charity.

This handbook arrives for practitioners at just the right time for the fiftieth anniversary of LAG. The Legal Action Group began its excellent work way back in 1972. Advisers and practitioners since the 1970s have come to rely on LAG books, especially in the early years of their practice. All the LAG books remain, for us, just the right practitioner/adviser texts for modern advocacy with their mix of common-sense and detail. They are also easy to read and readily navigable for the legal novice.

It is rightly described as “the only comprehensive guide to the legal aid scheme”. The handbook remains the one book no legal aid lawyer can afford to be without. What we get here is detailed coverage of the legal framework of the scheme, with full discussion of civil, criminal, and family legal aid, and analysis of the leading case-law since LASPO arrived- all those years ago!

The handbook remains easy to read. It offers the following structure and contents set out for lawyers and advisers, giving us a practical, step by step guidance on conducting cases, getting paid, advocacy, and financial and contract management.

There is a comprehensive guidance on performance monitoring and quality standards; specialist chapters on family, immigration, mental health, community care, housing, crime, exceptional case funding and public law; tactics and tips on using CCMS, with useful workarounds; in-depth guidance on costs and a new chapter on IFA and ICA cost appeals; plus, all the latest policy developments which LAG excels at describing!

What we get with the new edition for 2022-23 includes the following legal areas: The Standard Crime Contract 2022; The Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) Covid contingency arrangements where relevant in the handbook; a discussion of the LAA’s new interface with CCMS; the latest available information on the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme; and useful reference to guidance on the LAA’s new training and support website which is well worth reviewing.

The date of publication of this new paperback edition is cited as 28th February 2022. Always ensure you refer to the latest edition when researching legal aid.

30 www.snels.org.uk